Treasure Hunting

This is my trash can by my cutting table:

The one by my ironing board:

And the one near where I sew:

This is the can I use for leftover 2 1/2” strips. It was a gift from Lauren.

I bet you know where this is going…

The last couple of days, I have been cleaning out my sewing room. I threw out lots of stuff.  My husband came up and offered to take out the trash.  (I was downstairs taking a break).  In his defense, Michael asked me if I wanted to get rid of ALL of it and I said yes.

Later yesterday afternoon I went back up to finish and I saw a bag in the Hershey can. I put two and two together and shrieked.

The good news is the trash does not go out until Monday.  The even better new is Michael had put all my “trash” into a separate garbage bag.  I think I got most of the strips back and I will now label my Hershey can.

Now you may be asking do all those trash cans keep my sewing room cleaner? No, they do not.

Today I cut out and started piecing Month 9 of my Civil War Quilt. It is a doozey but I only have to make 4. The center half square triangles are together. I am catching up!

Tonight is the big ACC game between SU and Duke.  Michael says we have a good chance. Let’s go Orange!

Diane

Cold!

It is cold outside! And has been for several days.  I have been very content to stay inside and knit and sew.

Mary is running a Fair Isle class at the shop and we are making these fingerless mitts.  This is my first one; I am doing the ribbing on the second one.  That white line that looks like a mistake will be cut open (steeked-eek!) for my thumb.

Last year I started crocheting a large granny square to make a knitting bag. I lost the directions so I fudged a lining for it.

I have to tack a couple more spots but I am pleased with it. I used a dark batik so I would not have to line it.  I added snaps and pockets on the inside.

One more set of Civil War blocks almost done! 4 are completely sewn; 4 need to be completed.  Can you see how they are different?

I thought some of you “older” sewers would appreciate this. I still have several of my mother-in-law’s sewing supplies.  While I never recommend using old thread, I used this carpet thread to attach the ling to my knitting bag.  Check out the price:

Do you remember when?

Diane

January Finishes…So Far

I have actually been very busy this month.  I have been working, knitting and sewing. The only thing I have not done a lot of is cleaning and laundry!

This quilt has a completed binding and is on display at the shop for my binding class:

I made a few travel sewing caddies:

I increased the size of one to make a carry case for my IPad.

I completed 1 more block for my Civil War Quilt and started the next set:

96 half square triangles.  96.  I will start them this afternoon.

I started and completed this fingerless mitt:

It was fun to do. Lots of techniques I had never done before.

My mind is just racing. I have about 10 things I want to have finished now! I have them out and ready to go. I am thinking I will spend this month and next working on these WIPs and then in March I will devote to machine quilting.

How are your projects coming along?

Diane

Civil War Melodies

I realized that I have not updated my Civil War Melodies quilt in a while.

It is a funny quilt. I look at the fabrics for the quilt and think that I really don’t like them and then I piece the blocks and the fabrics look nice together. I have to learn to have faith.

This was a BOM for 2013. I am now officially halfway done. Yay!

Last July when I was only a couple of months behind I started Block 5:

For some reason it really slowed me down. It was one of those fussy kind of blocks-no easy way to attack it. That stripe also made me a little crazy.  But now it is done. I completed Block 6 in an afternoon and am now on to block 7:

I would have finished today but I didn’t like the way I had originally fussy cut the blue stripey material (OK- I cut it wrong…) so I need to get more.  I work tomorrow so I can grab it then and finish up on Wednesday. I peeked at Block 8-lots of half-square triangles…

I am starting the new Civil War BOM for 2014 this month so I had best keep going!

Diane

Another Civil War Block

The title says it all.  I have also included a close-up of the center that I fussy cut.

 

Ooh-those corners don’t look very nice.  Let me try pressing them again….

Starting Over…Again

I have been trying to quilt this:

As I said, I am not pleased with this quilt.  I decided to do an overall stipple and Katie looked at it and said, “You always do the same thing…”

So I picked out three rows of quilting.  I had an idea to do a kind of feather idea but to get the effect I wanted.  Unfortunately, the border was too wide and I picked all that out… 

Difficult to see but imagine LOTS of little threads and holes on the quilt top.

So I am going to meander-but smaller- the borders and put a little design in the blocks.  Sorry Katie, but it is going to look the same.

I am beginning to hate this quilt…

On a brighter note, I got some fabrics for my civil war quilt!

 

Can I tell you that each quarter cost me about $1.50 and the total shipping was $4.50?  I am very pleased!

More Blocks

I guess I am slowing down.  I only have three more blocks to show today.  I decided that I need more fabric (!) for the blocks so I am now searching for more.

I am not too sure about the top block.  Any two of the three fabrics are all right together, but all three….I don’t know.  The third block is paper pieced.

I am finding that she uses the 25 patch often (as in the middle block).  I am going to make some templates to use for these blocks to use with my rotary cutter.  I may do that with the 7 x 7 grids also.

It is very hot here; 95 degrees yesterday and about 90 degrees today. Today there is a little breeze and it seems to be less humid. The upstairs is very warm so I have abandoned my sewing room.   Of course tomorrow is the day we are having central air conditioning installed.  Yay!  After 30 years!

Three More Blocks

I have 3 more Civil War quilt blocks:

So far, they are coming together fairly quickly.  The third block in my pictures is not symmetrical to me but I did follow the directions.  The measurements have included lots of 1/8” increments but they have not been too difficult to do.

Civil War Blocks

Here are the first three blocks:

So far, so good.  The blocks finish at 6” and in some cases I oversized parts of the block and trimmed them down.  The outsides of the middle block are on the bias, but I starched them up so I hope they don’t stretch too much.

Wow! I only have 118 more blocks to make!

Civil War Quilt

I have a quilt on the frame.  I have a quilt that needs its outer border quilted (I am doing it on my Bernina-which is in the shop for cleaning and updates).  I have a binding to put on another quilt.  So why am I itching to start something new??

I bought this book a couple of years ago.  That was when I started collecting reproduction fabrics in earnest.

Barbara Brackman has started  a blog to celebrate the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. She is sharing one block each week.  You can see her blocks here.

I was going to follow along with her using her fabrics (in fact I was all ready to order them) but today I decided to use the above book and my own fabrics.  See-I can use what I already have!

I know-should I really start another project?  There are 121 blocks in the book.  I made the first two today (will post tomorrow).  I figure that I have 4 years to finish the quilt, right?

Are you starting or making a civil war quilt this year?